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omit a fact she considered beyond the comprehension of a nine-year-old girl. |
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"Why? Because it was a sin to be unchaste?" |
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"No, I fear not," Alinor replied, still honestly, although her voice was not quite as steady as it had been. "I fear I did not think much of sin when I was a girl. Before I met your father I had never seen a man I valued high enough to give my body or my heartwhich was more important. After I married I was chaste because I loved your father and it would have hurt him if I gave to another what he believed belonged to him." |
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"You do not love Papa anymore?" Joanna whispered. |
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Although Alinor had known that had to be the next question, she winced. To be prepared for pain does not really diminish the pang. She drew a deep breath, and then another. |
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"Of course I love your father, Joanna. I will always love him, always and always." She stopped and fought the tears, but she lost that battle, too. They welled slowly over her lower lids and down her cheeks. |
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"Do you think Papa will not care any longer that you give to Ian what used to be his?" |
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Alinor brushed away the tears. Joanna had not seemed to notice them, but that was not surprising. She had seen her mother's face wet so often in the past year and a half that it was a usual thing to her. |
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"That is certainly true," Alinor replied. "Papa still loves us all, but he has no more use for my body, Joanna, and he was never the kind to hoard for himself what he did not want just so that someone else should not have it. Papa will not care about that. He will only care if we forget him, and I will never forget him and never stop loving him." |
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That seemed to satisfy Joanna, and she wriggled toward the front of the chair as if she was about to slide off. Then she suddenly frowned. Obviously, a new problem had occurred to her. |
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